When three prisoners escape from a prison van when it crashes, they begin a deadly cross-country crime spree before hiding out in a remote house belonging to a black minister and his family. The self-appointed 'leader' of the gang Jessie Lee Kane (William Sanderson) is full of racial hate and aggression and begins a sadistic tirade against the poor family. With the police on their trail, they must decide their next step, or if they should hold out where they are and enjoy themselves while they can. The minister Ted Turner (Robert Judd) is a reserved and proud man, willing to do anything to protect his family, and is gradually being pushed further and further over the edge by the increasingly violent threesome.Listed as one of the notorious 'video nasties' back in 1984, it is the only film to be banned based solely on the language used. After watching the film, it's not difficult to see why. Don't get me wrong, I think censorship is just a scapegoat for problems on a larger scale and the films on the video nasty list were mainly hilarious anyway, but the amount of racial slurs bounded about in the film is just offensive and wholly unnecessary. This is not a racist film by any means - if anything it falls into the traditions of the blaxploitation genre - but in one scene the 'n' word must be used by the same person about fifty times in the space of a couple of minutes. Okay, we get it, Kane is a racist scumbag, we don't have to hear it in every sentence. It's unfortunate, as the film has some good moments, and its production value seems to be evidently better than the majority of Grindhouse films at the time. Sanderson convinces in the lead role, and would go on to star as J.F. Sebastian the toy-maker in Blade Runner, and appeared in HBO's Deadwood and True Blood. The film just unfortunately revels in its violence and racial abuse. Only worth seeing for the scene where a wheelchair-bound grandma points a gun and shouts "don't move, or I'll blow your motherf****n' balls off!"www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

In Fight For Your Life, a delightfully trashy and very un-PC piece of 70s exploitation littered with racist language, three vicious criminals on the lam (a 'honky', a 'spic' and a 'chink') hold a family of bible-thumping 'black-assed coons' hostage and submit them to a day of torture. Eventually, the 'jungle bunnies' get the upper hand, decide not to turn the other cheek, and smite down their oppressors. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, sayeth the good book.In the UK, this now infamous movie was added to the Video Nasties list (where it has remained ever since); some nasty murders and a gang rape no doubt have something to do with that, but it is probably the film's endless array of racial slurs (see first paragraph for examples) delivered by bad-guy Jessie Lee Kane (William Sanderson) that keep this film from being released in 'good old Blighty'!Of course, it is not the film that is racist, rather than the character portrayed within the film, but our moral defenders here in the UK rarely take the time to consider the facts, preferring to take no chances by stopping us from seeing such things altogether. Any sane person can see that the movie just uses racism to shock the audience (a great example of true exploitation). In fact, the black family who are victimised are presented as a morally upstanding bunch and are the 'heroes' of the film.The film does suffer at times from some unnecessary and rather talky scenes, and Kane's verbal abuse becomes tiresome towards the end, but there are plenty of other moments that make this film worthwhile if you dig grindhouse cinema: a baby has a gun pointed at its head; a young boy has his head smashed in with a rock; a man is impaled on a huge shard of glass; and a woman is chased through some woods, her clothes come off, and she is pushed over a waterfall.And when the family does get revenge, even the dog joins in by taking a leak on one of the criminals. Now that's entertainment!

This is a movie for people who enjoy offensive dialog and taboos on display. Movies like this are not made anymore and i feel that is sad. We live in a country that's at war but we are too afraid to show fictional violence. This was made in the era that put out such cult classics like "Last House on the Left", "Cannibal Holocaust" and "I Spit On Your Grave". Three convicts escape jail and then hold a religious black family captive in their own home. This film has all the exploitive treats like rape, humiliation, child murder and racism. For it's time "Fight For Your Life" had to be one of the most offensive movies in 1977. I have news for you it still is today. The cast was wonderful, especially the bigot played by William Anderson. He hit all the right notes when it came to portraying a despicable and hateful character. He makes a minister do a shuck and jive dance while shooting at his feet for crying out loud. The thing i like about exploitive films like this is that it delivers with eventual revenge. I don't mind being showed ugliness because it reminds me how wrong things like bigotry and crime are. If you want to see a movie with guts and thats willing to push the envelope and entertain, this is the film for you. The Grandma in this movie is hilarious , especially when the whole family is singing gospel at gunpoint. ***1/2/****

It's easy to pass Fight for Your Life off as 'Last House on the Left' inspired racist garbage, but this film approaches it's subject matter in an assured and straight-up manner, and while it often gets uncomfortable to watch; it's hard to deny that the film provokes a reaction in the viewer - and that is the most important thing about a film like this. The film definitely takes influence from Wes Craven's pioneering shocker, as well as the rest of the 'rape and revenge' genre, but by adding racist themes into the mix, director Robert A. Endelson instantly gives his film more scope and more potency, as rather than have the violence directed against one, or a group of people; it's directed against a whole race of people. The plot follows three inmates that escape from prison. While on the run from the cops, they decide to hole up in a house in the woods, inhabited by a family of black people. These convicts aren't very nice anyway, but their leader also happens to be an astute racist; and so decides to take out his frustrations on the captive family in the most brutal and humiliating ways possible.Fight for Your Life benefits from some surprisingly good production values, and a host of well worked and convincing performances. Most of the characters are a little over the top, but it's easy to believe them and the situation that the film presents. There isn't quite as much brutality in this film as there has been in many similar films made before or after this one, but the way that the director puts the focus on the things that the characters say increases the tension ten-fold, especially in this day and age, as it's difficult to comprehend how someone could be so uncompromisingly racist. The scenes that see the lead convict take his frustrations out on the well-mannered family are uncomfortable and shocking, and this is where the film's power lies. It's hard to sit there and simply watch what is going on, and while I can't deny that I thoroughly enjoyed this film; it doesn't always make for easy viewing. It all boils down to a satisfying conclusion that both gives the audience what they want and brings credence to the lead characters. Overall, this won't be everyone's cup of tea; but I found it to be an excellent slice of exploitation and comes recommended to all the right people.